Lion King Fanfic Alternate Beginning
by Magmashift
Summary: I was thinking that my story needed a new beginning. I'm letting you decide. Soon, this will have more action. Trust me


Early in the morning on Pride Rock, Timon and Pumbaa were running for their lives. "Faster, Pumbaa! She's ganging on us! AAH!" Timon kicked Pumbaa's side to make him run faster as a lioness was chasing them. Pumbaa turned a sharp corner, but the lioness was closing in; she was just too fast. The two reached a dead end and looked with white eyes as the lioness was getting closer and closer. As she was about to pounce on them, a lion with red hair jumped in from of them with his teeth bared and his eyebrows furrowed. He let out an angry roar as his hackles rose. "Simba! Oh, thank God, we're saved!"  
The lioness growled and roared back in his face. "Move, lion! I'm getting my meal!" Simba didn't move. She went to go attack Timon, who was just sticking his tongue out at her, but Simba put his forepaw in the way.

"I'll ask you nicely to go back to where you came from or I'll use force." Timon and Pumbaa thought she'd back down, but she just leaned in closer, her eyes narrower, and growled.

"I'd like to see you make me try, red-head." Simba looked at her angrily and growled.

"I'll give you one last chance before I'm forced to hurt you!" The lioness stood her ground, ready for him to attack. Simba pounced and they rolled through a field, trying to claw each other. All Timon and Pumbaa could see was a bunch of fur. Simba had the lio-ness pinned to the ground. "Now leave this kingdom!"

"Why is a carnivore trying to protect meat?"

"They're my friends, cretin!" The lioness kicked Simba off of her and charged at the herbivores again.

"AAAAHHHH!" They both shouted. Nala jumped in the way and smacked her paw across the lioness's face. She rolled across the ground. Instead of attacking Nala, she just scoffed and smirked.

"Looks like your lioness is a better hunter than you, King. Your father would be ashamed." She stood up and started to walk away. Simba growled and jumped in front of her.

"What did you just say? Take that back!" He growled angrily. The lioness just turned her head away from him. "Look at me when I'm talking to you." The lioness growled and looked at him.

"I take it back! Now let me go starve to death." She pushed him out of the way and con-tinued her way. "Us Outsiders need to go die off of royal territory." She scoffed and turned away.

"You're an Outsider?" Simba quickly ran up to her. She just nodded and he noticed that she looked hungry. Timon and Pumbaa hid behind Nala. "Alright. We'll give you a meal. You look like you need one, anyway. Come with us." Simba nudged his head toward Pride Rock. The lioness growled and put her face inches from his.

"I don't need your help. I'm just fine handling myself. All I need is something to hunt; now beat it before I start to hunt you." Simba stepped out of her way, watching as she walked away. Nala shook her head.

"Don't worry about her, she's just mad because you kept her from killing Timon and Pumbaa. You were doing the right thing, but some people just don't like help." Nala com-forted. Timon jumped on Pumbaa's back, waving his fist in the air.

"Yeah, you showed her! Nobody messes with the king!" He said, laughing. His smile quickly faded when no one else showed any sign of celebrating. Simba shook his head as he walked back to Pride Rock. "What's his deal?" No one said a word as the rest followed him. Soon, rain started pouring down. Kiara and Kovu huddled around their cub, Upendi as lightning flashed in the distance. Simba sighed as he paced around the den. He kept casting glances out at the rain, watching it rain sideways, raindrops as large as bullets. The small cub that sat between his two parents shook as thunder rolled in the distance, the booms echoing in his ears.

"Don't worry, Upendi. We won't let anything hurt you." Kiara said softly as she nuzzled her cub. His green eyes shone in the darkness. Kovu followed Simba with his eyes as he continued pacing around the den. Was the rain worrying him? Did he fear that lightning would hit one of the animals? The hours had passed, though the rain did not; in fact, it had seemed to start to rain harder. Soon, everyone had fallen asleep despite the constant thund-er. Upendi lay snuggled tightly between his parents, purring in his sleep. Yawning, Simba awoke, unable to sleep soundly.

Opening his eyes, he saw that it was still raining. A flash of lightning lit up the sky for a mere second before the clouds in the sky turned the Pridelands pitch black, looking like it had the comfort of the Outlands. His mind traveled back to the strange Outsider. Where was she? Normally he wouldn't be worried about someone that wasn't really his business, but for some reason. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. Looking carefully, making sure that no one would be awake, wondering where he was if they did wake up, he walked out of the den. Immediately, he was drenched head-to-toe to the point where he almost looked like a wet, shag carpet.  
Nala opened her eyes, just catching the tip of Simba's tail as he disappeared. She stood at the entrance of the den, but she didn't follow him. Simba crept to the Pridelands, tripping in mud puddles that were deceivingly deep and walking over rocks that cut the bottom of his paws. At one point, he had slipped while climbing up a large hill and got his tail stuck in a small crevice. He had managed to pull his tail free, but a few hairs in his tail came loose, too. By the time he had gotten to his destination, his entire body was shaking from the cold and his fur, is possible, was even wetter than it had been just minutes ago.

Even though his mane was plastered to his face by the tons of rain, he could see vaguely since a wind had picked up and blew some of the hair out of his face. Then a thought crossed his mind; how would he even know where to look for her? Even if he knew where she was, it was near impossible to see with rain taking up most of his vision. More lightning struck in the sky and Simba started to feel his stomach turn when he'd realized how close the lightning was getting to him. He'd gotten to a tall rock and climbed the top of it. Lightning struck inches from his forepaws, breaking the rock beneath his paws, causing him to fall to the ground. He rolled to the ground, hitting his head on a few rocks. As his fall stopped, his face fell in a mud puddle. The one eye that wasn't in the mud squinted, trying to keep the rain out of his eye, seeing a figure hover over him. He was dragged away out of the rain.

When he woke, he found that he was in a den. Had he been found by his family? A small furball was resting close to him. It had to be Upendi. Another warm body lay beside him, purring. By the way his fur felt, he could tell that half his body was still caked with mud. He wanted to see what was going on, but he felt so tired. His eyes fell heavy as he drifted in and out of sleep. Eventually, he was able to stay awake. When his vision cleared, he'd found out that it wasn't, in fact Upendi that was snuggled up to him, it was a brown and black spotted cub. Next to him, he guessed, was Sheba, sleeping soundly.

He wanted to move, but the chances of waking them up seemed to frighten him a little; judging by Sheba's build, he guessed that she was much stronger than him and scaring her would be a major mistake. A question that came to his mind was why she had brought him to her den. Based on earlier events, she probably would have left him to die. The loud purring coming from her vibrated through her body seemed to keep him warm. Simba felt himself purring, too. Suddenly, Sheba stirred. Had his purring woken her up? Of course, this was a silly theory, but he didn't think that she'd gotten her sharp claws by playing with a ball of yarn or the torn ear from just playing around with the little cub beside him. She stood up and yawned.

"I know you're awake." She said. "You're a very loud mouth-breather. And I don't think someone who's asleep would be so tense." Simba stood and shook his mane; he was still shivering on the inside. Was it possible to be so cold inside and out? Sheba looked out of the den. The sun had finally come out. It was starting to shine behind some coulds, letting her know that it would rain again soon. She turned to him and sighed. "You should head back before it starts to rain again. We don't want a repeat of earlier." The small cub opened her wide eyes and looked at him. Whatever her reaction to him was, he didn't know; Sheba had practically shoved him away. He mumbled a thank you and started to run off. Apparently, she didn't like him, but didn't hate him enough to leave him for dead.

He soon found that she was right, barely ten minutes after her left her den, he felt raindrops on his head. Then he started to notice that there was a pain in his head and a severe on at that. As much as he wanted to take a rest and let the pain recede from his head, he couldn't risk getting caught in another storm. He saw something moving in the distance. It was big and square; sort of. Whatever it was, he didn't like it. Quickly, he started running toward Pride Rock. It was starting to rain even harder when he had gotten close to whatever it was that was moving. The closer he got to whatever it was, the more he saw a group of blurry figures on the weird object. One of them spoke to the other that was controlling where they were heading. Something about 'bagging the meat'. Whatever that meant, Simba didn't like it and he figured that he was the 'meat'.

Sheba heard something in the distance and squinted her eyes as she took a glance. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she started to run toward Pride Rock. As she jumped a rock, she was face-to-face with an angry Nala. "Where is he?" She asked angrily. Frightened, Sheba stepped back once, but no answer came from her mouth. "Where is Simba? I know he left Pride Rock to check on you last night and he didn't come back. What did you do to him?" Finally, Sheba came to her senses and her look was just as, if not more, angry than Nala's.

"Simba left a few minutes ago and I think he's in danger." Nala didn't listen. Angry, she slashed at Sheba's face.

"If you're concerned about him, then why is his blood on your paws?" Sheba looked down with a surprised look and saw that there was blood on the front of her paw.

"What the? How-" Nala didn't let her finish. Without warning, Nala attacked Sheba and pinned her to the ground. Sheba kicked the queen off of her and snarled. "Listen to me! The Pridelands are in danger! Simba-"

"I won't listen to you! If you come near the Pridelands anymore, I'll make sure that you never come back!" Before Sheba could utter another syllable, Nala stormed off. The annoyed Outsider shook her head and followed Nala.

"Why won't you listen to me!? I didn't kill Simba! If anything, I saved him from the storm! When he gained consciousness, I shoved him off and he went toward the Pridelands and then-"

"Why would _you _want to help him? He offered you help and then you shoved the offer aside. Why should I believe that you'd help him when you wouldn't receive help from _him_?" Sarcastically, Sheba smiled.

"Because I knew that if I helped him, it would show that he's weak and feeble, much like you."


End file.
